Process for making lasagna

ABSTRACT

A process for preparing precooked lasagna in which the ingredients are mixed and then extruded to form at least two uncooked strips of pasta. After passing the strips through the cooker, they are deposited into a cooling tank where they are allowed to accumulate. A separator and guide means aligns the noodles on top of one another as they pass out of the cooling tank. The noodles are then passed above and below the nozzle where a filler material is deposited between the strips. The strips are then cut for packaging.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Generally, this invention relates to a machine and process for producinga new precooked lasagna product. More specifically, this is a continuousasynchronous process for creating a lasagna product wherein the noodlesare corrugated and have scalloped edges.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The production of flour based products has served as a staple foodsource from times too early to determine. Somewhat similarly, theautomated production of pasta products has also received a great deal ofattention over an extended number of years. These devices have covered avariety of applications from the production of simple uncooked pasta tothe production of precooked stuffed pasta products such as manicotti andravioli.

While the production of products such as these has received asignificant amount of attention during the years, the production of theproduct known as lasagna appears to have received much lessconsideration. Thus, while broad lasagna type noodles are produced inlarge quantities, the responsibility falls upon the purchaser to cookthe noodles and layer them with other substances such as meat, cheeseand sauce in order to produce the finished product which is then baked.With the demands of today's society, and the general appeal that lasagnahas to the public, there is little doubt that an easy to prepare yetquality lasagna product is desirable.

When considering the state of the art, several reasons for the failureto economically produce such a product are suggested. Since the lasagnaproduct is not enclosed as other pasta type products, it is necessary towork with separate continuous strips of pasta noodles. In order toprovide a filling between these separate noodle strips, variousalignment steps must be performed. To do this economically, it ispreferable to deal with the separate strips as a single unit and avoidthe use of separate hoppers and extruders as has been done in the past.The difficulty becomes more evident when as in the present invention,one wishes to provide a precooked product. Since it is not desirable tocook the product after the filling has been introduced and since mostprior art devices that deal with more than one strip use separatehoppers for each strip, it would be necessary to join the strips forcooking, or use separate cooking means, then separate the strips forfilling and rejoin them. In addition to the difficulties encountered inaligning separate noodle strips, as the process is extended to includesteps such as extruding, cooking, filling and cutting, breakage of thestrips becomes a difficulty. Should one seek to overcome this difficultyby providing slack in the noodle strips for an asynchronous process,greater difficulties in alignment are encountered.

I also found that when providing a precooked, ready to bake lasagnaproduct, other difficulties are encountered in the production of aproduct satisfactory to the ultimate consumer. The individual who makeshis own lasagna product has little or no difficulty distributing thefilling substances such as meat, cheese, and sauce evenly upon thelayers of noodles. However, when the product is precooked and purchasedfrozen, there is little or no opportunity to evenly distribute theingredients without trying to separate the product into its components.Thus, whereas other manufacturers of noodle strips seek to inhibit theflow of sauce, since the preparer is applying the sauce where he desiresit to be, the producer of a precooked lasagna product must have a noodlestrip configuration that assists and enhances the flow of sauce withoutthe ultimate consumer having to separate the product. In addition, thefilling between the noodle strips must be consistent and even throughoutthe product.

With these ideas in mind, I began working on my invention. The approachwhich led me to the development of my present invention was therealization that the use of slack in the noodle strips for theasynchronous production of the product would aid in the simultaneousproduction of the strips and help avoid breakage if the strips could beproperly aligned prior to filling.

It was, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a machine forthe continuous asynchronous production of a precooked lasagna product.

Another object of this invention was to provide such a machine whichwould limit breakage of the noodles and thus avoid the need to interruptthe process.

Another object of this invention was to provide a machine which wouldproduce a precooked lasagna product wherein the inner filling wascontinuous and evenly distributed.

Another object of this invention was to provide a precooked lasagnaproduct which enhanced sauce migration and flow.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent to those familiarwith this field as the detailed description is considered.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of the production assembly.

FIGS. 2 and 2a is an elevational view of the extruder and one of theconveyor transfer mechanisms.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the noodle strips alignment and fillingmechanism.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the product of this invention.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the product of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 discloses a holding bin 10 which contains semolina or anotherflour type substance. The semolina is drawn through a tubing 12 into ameasuring device 14.

This measuring device may be varied in order to adjust the amount offlour being delivered through pipe 16 into the mixer 18.

Simultaneously, a second holding bin 20 which is generally filled witheggs is delivering the egg product through a second pipe 22 into themixer 18.

The delivery rates of the semolina and the egg are varied by means whichare well known in the art in order to achieve the desired consistency.

Once the desired consistency is achieved, the mixture is directedthrough an extruder 24 which is shown in greater detail in FIG. 2. Theproduct being extruded is an uncooked continuous noodle strip.

As shown in FIG. 2a, the die of the extruder is fashioned so as toproduce a first noodle strip 26 and second noodle strip 28. Moreparticularly, the die is designed so as to form noodle strips havinglongitudinal corrugations 30 and scalloped edges, which for the purposeof this application will be used to mean a wavy or sinusoidal edge,having projections both above and below the longitudinal corrugations(see FIG. 4).

The longitudinal corrugations 30 form channels 34 and crests 36. Thedepth of the channels measured from the crests varies from 1/16 to 1/4of an inch. This depth enables most of the channels 34 to stay open evenafter a filler 38 is placed thereon. Thus, sauce migration along thenoodle is aided despite the filler material. As also shown in FIG. 4,the scalloped edges 32 serve to direct the sauce applied along the edgesof the noodle in toward the channels.

FIG. 5 discloses the end product wherein the lasagna is folded in a "e"shape. In this configuration, the scalloped edges serve to hold thenoodle strips apart from each other for better sauce migration. Theresiliency of the noodles at turns 40 and 42 also aid to hold the stripsapart from each other. Thus, when the product is packaged and frozen inthis manner, the ultimate user can take the frozen precooked lasagna andsimply pour sauce over it and still get sufficient migration of thesauce to have the sauce channel throughout a substantial amount of theproduct.

As shown in FIG. 2, the noodles are extruded onto a first conveyor belt44. This first conveyor 44 transports the two continuous noodle stripsto a cooker 46. As known by those familiar with the art, the cooker 46also has a conveyor belt (not shown) which carries the noodles throughthe cooker at a predetermined rate in order to assure complete cookingof the noodles. After exiting the cooker, the noodles are deposited intoa cooling tank 48. In my preferred embodiment, the cooling tank issimply filled with water and is of a sufficient size to hold a largeamount of noodles. By having a large amount of noodles within thecooling tank, not only is the cooling and congealing process betterestablished, but the system becomes asynchronous since there is a greatdeal of latitude in the amount of excess noodles that are stored withinthe tank. This excess of noodles in the tank also serves to allow themachinery to be articulated at this point which can save substantiallyin the amount of room required to perform this process.

In initially setting up the process, the end of each noodle is directedout of the cooling tank and over a set of bars in the manner shown inFIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, this set of bars extends outwardly from a secondconveyor belt 50 such that the bars are suspended over the cooling tank48. The set of bars has a first bar 52 and a second bar 54 which areparallel to each other and are at least one foot above the cooling tank.In my preferred embodiment, these bars are actually 18 inches above thecooling tank. This allows the noodles to unwind as they are drawn out ofthe cooling tank and over the bars, thereby aligning the noodle stripsaxially. In order to accomplish this, the strips must be separate.Therefore, the first noodle strip 26 passes over the first bar 52 andthen proceeds over the second bar 54, whereas the second noodle striprises out of the tank and only passes over the bar 54.

A guide 56 is attached to the second bar 54 and serves to align thefirst noodle strip 26 on top of the second noodle strip 28.

The noodle strips travel along the second conveyor belt 50 in thisfashion until they come to an inclined separator 58 which is suspended asufficient distance above the second conveyor belt 50 to allow thesecond noodle strip 28 to pass under the inclined separator while thefirst noodle strip 26 passes over the inclined separator. Immediatelyafter the inclined separator and prior to the noodles' joining together,there is a nozzle 60 which is attached by means of a tube 62 to a hopper64.

The hopper is filled with a predetermined filler such as cheese andserves to deposit a continuous strip of cheese onto the second noodlestrip 28. The second noodle strip passes under the nozzle 60 which issuspended by means of a bracket 66 slightly above the second conveyorbelt 50. After filling, the noodle strips pass through a second guide 68which serves to assure alignment of the first noodle strip on top of thesecond noodle strip.

The precooked lasagna product then passes to a cutter 70 where thenoodles are cut into strips of predetermined length. In my preferredembodiment, the noodle is then folded in a "e" shape as shown in FIG. 5.After folding, the noodle is packaged and frozen so that the ultimateconsumer need only add sauce and bake the product.

In operation, the consistency of the semolina and egg mixture is set andthe mixture is then passed through an extruder 24. The die assembly ofthe extruder is waved so as to produce noodle strips having longitudinalcorrugations 30 and scalloped edges 32. A first conveyor belt 44 directsthe first noodle strip 26 and the second noodle strip 28 to a cooker 46wherein the cooker conveyor belt passes these strips through the cookerat a predetermined rate in order to properly cook the noodles. Afterpassing through the cooker, the noodle strips are deposited into acooling tank. When the process is being initially instituted, theindividual running the process will allow a significant amount ofnoodles to accumulate in the tank. Generally, somewhere in theneighborhood of twenty feet of noodle strips is a sufficient amount tobe deposited in the tank. The individual then takes one of the noodlestrips, which for the sake of description will be called the secondnoodle strip, and passes it up from the tank over a second bar 54 andonto a second conveyor belt 50. Almost simultaneously, the first noodlestrip 26 is directed up from the cooling tank 48 and over both a firstbar 52 and the second bar 54. The strips are aligned so as to passthrough a guide 56 which is secured to the second bar 54 and assuresthat the first noodle strip is positioned on top of the second noodlestrip. The first noodle strip is then directed above an inclinedseparator 58 while the second noodle strip is passed below theseparator. Similarly, the first noodle strip is passed over the nozzle60 while the second noodle strip is passed under the nozzle. The pump(not shown) from the hopper 64 then directs a filling substance such ascheese through tube 62 and out of nozzle 60. The cheese is depositedonto the second noodle strip after which the first noodle strip descendsover the nozzle 60, thereby creating a lasagna type sandwich. A secondguide 68 assures that the first noodle strip 26 is aligned directly overthe second noodle strip 28. The noodles with filler then move to acutter where they are cut into predetermined lengths. These lengths canvary significantly, but generally I found that lengths of 6 to 10 inchesare preferable.

After cutting, the product is folded into a "e" shape and packaged andfrozen. The shape of the broad, lasagna type noodles is important inassisting the ultimate consumer in preparing the lasagna. The scallopededges of the noodles as well as the use of the "e" shape providesopenings between the noodle strips that are in contact with each other.Also, because the noodle is longitudinally corrugated with channels from1/16 to 1/4 inch in depth, sauce applied over the frozen product will bedirected into the channels and will generally spread out substantiallyevenly during baking. In addition, the choose filler will generally notfill the corrugations, and therefore, sauce applied to the product willmigrate along the channels and below the cheese. As soon as the productis baked, it is ready to be consumed.

While the above describes the preferred embodiment of this invention, itshould be appreciated that various changes can be made without departingfrom the scope of the invention which is intended to be limited only bythe appended claims.

I claim:
 1. A continuous asynchronous process for making precookedlasagna comprising the following sequential steps:extruding at least twocontinuous strips of uncooked broad lasagna type noodles onto aconveyor; cooking the strips as they are being continually passedthrough a cooking means; collecting the noodle strips in a cooling tank;drawing the strips from the cooling tank while leaving a predeterminedamount of noodles in the tank to provide slack for asynchronousoperation of the process; separating the continuous strips from eachother as they are drawn from the tank; aligning one of the strips on topof the other strip in a horizontal orientation; passing the top stripover and the bottom strip under a nozzle; feeding a substance throughthe nozzle, thereby creating a filling between the strips; and cuttingthe strips into lengths of predetermined size.
 2. The invention of claim1 wherein said separating step includes the step of suspending thestrips vertically, at least twelve inches above the cooling tank toallow the strips to unwind.
 3. The invention of claim 1 wherein theextruding step includes scalloping the edges of the strips.
 4. Theinvention of claim 3 wherein the extruding step also includescorrugating the noodles longitudinally.